Chapter 248 The clues matched

When Zhou Qiuhe saw this, she knew that her fourth brother's family was well off and was specifically helping her family, so she accepted the money without any further refusals.

The pickled mustard greens came from Xia Juanjuan, and Zhou Qiuhe's family also had some cheap vegetables like radish, cabbage, and spinach. There were also winter bamboo shoots that Lijie picked from the mountains. Just like Xia Juanjuan's family, they were dried in water and turned into bamboo shoots. Then they started to get busy.

A dish of stir-fried pork with bamboo shoots, a dish of steamed pork intestines, a dish of scrambled eggs with spinach, stir-fried cabbage, and a big pot of dumplings. It was considered a hearty meal.

Xia Juanjuan helped Zhou Qiuhe prepare the meal and was about to go back, but Zhou Qiuhe held her back and refused to let her go. Lijie also came over secretly and said something, so Xia Juanjuan stayed and asked Huanhuan and Yingying to go home and call Xiaowen, Xiaowu and Beibei to come over for dinner.

Dongbao was three years old and also went there with his two older sisters.

As for the triplets, they could run, but it was too much to take care of so many children at once, so Lin Yuru had to take care of them and they ate dumplings at home.

Li Jie and Li Zhaodi sat down in the house. The two siblings had not seen each other for many years. Their eyes were red after a few words, but they still understood each other's situation and recognized Zhou Qiuhe and the kids in the family one by one.

Li Jie asked, "Sister, you finally came back, why don't you bring all the kids here to meet your uncle?"

Li Zhaodi lifted the corner of her clothes to wipe her tears and said, "There are so many children at home. If I bring them all here, I won't be able to take care of them on the way. It's also the New Year, and if I bring them all here, people will gossip about me."

When she received the letter, it was already the 28th day of the lunar year. When she heard that her elder brother had died in an accident, her heart was devastated and she was extremely sad. She didn't even prepare any gifts for visiting relatives during the New Year's Festival. She asked her husband to ride a bicycle to the county town overnight, bought a ticket, and took the bus to the county town. She relied on her memory and asked people on the way to get here.

"Why didn't you send me any news about Dad's death and Xiaojun's matter?" Li Zhaodi felt very sad whenever he thought about it.

When she found out that her father had passed away, she didn't feel that bad, after all, she was resentful towards her father. But Li Jun was her little brother whom she had doted on and protected since she was a child...

Li Jie sighed and said, "Why didn't you send it? But everyone who went there said you moved, and all the letters I sent were returned..."

After hearing this, Li Zhaodi also felt very regretful: "Alas... I was careless and didn't leave a new address to that village... If it weren't for the letter sent from Qingshui Village to my home, I might not have known it for my whole life..."

Li Jie was stunned for a moment. A letter sent from Qingshui Village?

If someone in the village knew the eldest sister's address, it would be impossible for him not to tell the Li family. Who could have sent it? The key is, how did he know the eldest sister's new address?

However, Li Jie couldn't figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it. The most important thing was that the family who had been separated for many years was reunited. That letter... maybe it was God's pity?

Li Jie took a deep breath and said, "Sister, let's not talk about this. Fourth brother has gone to the army, but his wife is here. This is his wife, Juanjuan."

Li Zhaodi was also stunned for a moment after hearing this, and asked with concern: "Xiao Zhan went to the army? He didn't get injured in these years, right?"

Having said that, he raised his head to look at Xia Juanjuan. It was not a big deal at first glance. Xia Juanjuan was obviously dressed like a country woman, but she was still very bright and dazzling.

Li Zhaodi felt a little embarrassed for some reason and said with a smile: "Is this Xiao Zhan's wife? She is so pretty! She is a perfect match for Xiao Zhan!"

When Xia Juanjuan saw that her first reaction after hearing that Li Zhan had joined the army was to ask Li Zhan if he had ever been injured, she began to like her sister-in-law even more.

She laughed and shouted, "Big sister, Li Zhan is not at home. Otherwise, she would be happy to see you back."

Li Zhaodi was even happier when he saw that Xia Juanjuan was beautiful and could speak.

It seems that, except for the eldest brother, the other two younger brothers are living a good life.

Li Jie pointed at Xiao Wen, Xiao Wu and Bei Bei and said, "Also, these are the three children left by the eldest brother. They are now living with the fourth brother and his wife. Juan Juan also gave birth to triplets for the fourth brother, three sons, who are a little over one year old and were not brought to us."

Xiaowen, Xiaowu and Beibei were a little scared when they saw strangers, so they hid behind Xia Juanjuan, and then poked their heads out to look at Li Zhaodi timidly.

Li Zhaodi looked down and saw the three little kids. Xiao Wen and Xiao Wu somehow resembled the childhood appearance of their older brother in her memory. She couldn't help but burst into tears again.

While wiping her tears, she remembered something and took out several things wrapped in red paper from her arms and stuffed them into the hands of Xiaowen, Xiaowu, Beibei, Huanhuan, Yingying and Dongbao.

"Come on, Auntie came back in a hurry and didn't buy anything. This is the New Year's gift for you. Don't think it's too little."

Li Zhaodi gave both the newborn baby and the triplets to Zhou Qiuhe and Xia Juanjuan.

The children were afraid to accept it, and Zhou Qiuhe wanted to decline it, but Xia Juanjuan smiled and said, "It's rare for the eldest sister to come back. Third sister-in-law, let's not be so formal, otherwise the eldest sister will feel uncomfortable. You too, isn't this given by your eldest aunt? Why don't you hurry up and wish her a happy new year?"

The kids listened, and Xiao Wen was the first to speak up and said, "Happy New Year, Auntie!"

As soon as he opened his mouth, the other children all shouted in unison: "Auntie, Happy New Year!"

Li Zhaodi was both happy and sad.

In recent years, she has actually regretted that she was so decisive when she was young and cut off all ties with her mother's family so completely. Every time she wanted to come back to visit, she couldn't bear to do so because the travel expenses were too expensive, but mainly because she couldn't save face.

If I hadn’t known that, my eldest brother would have died early…

Everyone sat down again to eat and chat.

Xia Juanjuan tried to ask as inconspicuously as possible: "Sister, I just heard what you said in the courtyard, mother-in-law, isn't she my real mother-in-law?"

Li Jie heard this and asked, "Yes, sister. I want to ask you the same thing."

Li Zhaodi glanced at Li Jie, sighed, and said, "Well, it's no wonder you don't know. When our family was hit by a flood that year and we fled from home, you were only three years old and didn't remember anything. Our biological mother died in the flood. Our father took us four siblings and followed the village to flee the famine. On the way, we met Liu Lan and her son who were almost starving to death. My father asked me to give her half of the nest." Later, we all went together, and not long after, Dad said he wanted to marry Liu Lan. Xiaojun and I cried and said we didn't want to, but Dad didn't listen to us. After Liu Lan married Dad, she was pretty good to us, especially you and Xiaozhan, who were too young and chased after Liu Lan and called her mom. Xiaojun and I couldn't bear to see that, and we were afraid that you would be sad, so we secretly agreed not to tell you two that Liu Lan was not your biological mother..."

Xia Juanjuan was speechless after hearing this. How stupid must one be to keep it a secret?

However, when she first got married, she had already seen Liu Lan's hypocritical and pitiful appearance. Whenever there was a problem, she would instigate others to take the lead and do it, and she still had a good reputation.

Unfortunately, after Xia Juanjuan got married, she encountered a series of setbacks. In addition, the allowance given by Li Zhan was gone, and the money she saved was taken away by her own daughter. She could no longer control herself, and her personality collapsed. Now she has become a laughing stock in the whole village.

Twenty years ago, it would have been easy for her, an adult, to fool a few children.

However, as time went by, her partiality gradually became apparent. Even Li Jie could sense it!

Li Jie was very angry: "No wonder she favored my second brother more and more. She used the allowance sent by my fourth brother to marry a wife, and she always married my second brother first. After my second brother got married, it was my eldest brother's turn! How could this woman be so bad! My father is also a fool, and he listens to her in everything!"

Xia Juanjuan looked up at Li Zhaodi and said softly, "I also said... if Li Zhan was her biological son, how could a mother treat her biological son like that? It turns out... by the way, big sister, you said Liu Lan is not our biological mother-in-law, then what is her biological mother-in-law's name?"

Li Zhaodi thought of his mother and felt sad again. He said, "Her name is Liang Yunxia. Alas! We were too young at that time and thought Liu Lan was a good person, so we kept it a secret from you and fourth brother. I'm afraid that eldest brother was also thinking about the agreement with me, so he endured it for so many years and never told anyone..."

Xia Juanjuan's heart was beating wildly!

That’s right!

The original mistress of the Li family was called Liang Yunxia, ​​which is the same as what Shen Wanxue said!

Li Jie couldn't help but tear up when he heard this: "So my biological mother's name is Liang Yunxia... Sister, why didn't you tell us earlier? I didn't even know my biological mother's name was this..."

The sadder he was, the angrier he became. Li Jie couldn't help but say, "My fourth brother and I were wronged. She's old, and she needs my fourth brother to give her five yuan a month. I give her two hundred work points a month for her old age, but I don't give her a penny to my own son! I used to think she was my biological mother, but now I know she's not. Don't even think about asking for a single work point from me in the future!"

Li Zhaodi remembered another thing mentioned in the letter, so she asked, "Xiao Jie, did you know that Liu Lan sold our jade for fifty yuan? Did she give any money to you and my fourth brother's family?"

Li Jie was stunned for a moment, looking bewildered: "Sister, what are you talking about? What jade? When did our family have jade?"

When Li Zhaodi heard this, she was immediately furious. She stood up and walked out, saying, "Liu Lan, that shameless old woman, turned out to have taken Lian Yu for herself! I'm going to find her!"

Li Jie, Zhou Qiuhe, and Xia Juanjuan also stood up quickly. Li Jie pulled Li Zhaodi and asked, "Sister, what's going on? Tell me first, what kind of jade is this?"

Xia Juanjuan also stared at Li Zhaodi quietly.

Now, the only people who know that the Li family has jade are Liu Lan and Li Zhaodi.

Even Liu Lan might have thought that the jade originally belonged to the Li family.

Only Li Zhaodi knew that the jade was left by Shen Wanxue as a keepsake.

If she wanted to keep the jade and said it was an heirloom of the Li family, almost no one would be able to expose her.

Li Zhaodi, what would you say?